TGarthConnelly

Hi Guys, Hey, the P-59 AIRACOMET, how many were O.D. Green over Neutral Gray?

Just got back from Stan's; here are some photos I took, gee - I'm getting good at it. First coat of light gray on hull - test fitting cockpit and the Shapeways guns... Man! Is that an ugly boat or what? The rudders, props and shaft will come from a Revell PT-109 kit. The Shapeways twin 20mms and radar, unpainted. I am very impressed with the Shapeways stuff I've got, the guns, the radar and the guys. The guys will be painted next week. Stan repairing the radar with thin brass wire. The result of the repair job. You know how everyone says they have had problems painting the frosted Shapeways plastic? I watched Stan paint the gun mounts & shields and the radar, the paint went on with no problems. The guns will be painted "gun metal". Tim

Hi Kevin, Thank you. Next question; Do any of you great guys out there in 'model-land' have a 1:72 sheet for AIRACUTIE?

I'm just back from Stan's. The 3-D printed guys arrived 5 minutes before I left. He has them now. He made the two twin 20mms from Shapeways. I, and he like them. He added more detail to the cockpit (all it had was the steering wheel) ... he used basswood and plastic strips to do the hatchway and 3 storage bin hatches and an instrument panel. Gotta say, it looks better than what LINDBERG molded into the kit (nothing). Those 3-D printed 20mm guns are amazing. But Stan pointed out something that I never thought of; Shapeways doesn't supply instructions of how to make the guns ... so, I guess that means anyone who orders things like 20mms, 40mms and the like from Shapeways should have photos, drawings and such on hand to make them. I am really impressed with the 3-D printed guns ... I'm sorry - I forgot to bring my camera today. My mind was dealing with serious back and neck pain - I wasn't focused on what to bring to Stan's ... And, now, I am gonna have a good stiff bourbon, climb into bed and watch the NASCAR twin qualifying races for Sunday's Daytona 500.

I went to Stan's today and watched him work on my LINDBERG USAF Rescue Boat which I am having him build as the boat as it looked after it was handed over to the Navy to be used by BJU2 in the 1960s: The deck and all horizontal surfaces were painted Deck Gray, as per John Snyder and Chip Marshall. The cockpit is rather spartan. All it has is a steering wheel. I might have Stan put a compass and a throttle quadrant and a hatch leading to the charthouse. Stan hand painted the molded-on coiled rope. Which blew me away watching him. Tim

Hi Guys, I just got a HobbyBoss 1:72 P-39N Airacobra at my LHS. I just looked in the box and was blown away by the level of detail in the kit, especially in the wheel-wells and I think the cockpit is good enough too - so I won't be buying a P/E set. But, I'd like an USAAF P-39. Maybe AIRACUTIE or SNOOKS IV, just an USAAF P-39. I've looked on the net, there are sheets but are OOP. I looked on Ebay and whereas there are some 1:72 sheets listed, they're for the C, D, and F variants. Two questions now arise: Is a 39N the same as a C, D, or F? I'm a ship guy - so I don't know, OK? Do any of you have a 1:72 sheet for a USAAF P-39N (or AIRACUTIE or SNOOKS) that you'd be willing to part with? Tim

Yesterday, I went to Stan's and watched him work on my Lindberg USAF ASRB being done as a USN Beach Jumper boat from BJU2. I've seen two guys (one of whom is an excellent modeler) says that the model is shorter (scale-wise) than the 95-foot (94', 11") it's supposed to be. Chip Marshall told me that it's 2 1/2 inches too short. That means if one would put the hull of this kit next to the old, vulnerable and reliable Revell PT-109 kit and lined them up together - the Airfix kit should be 2 1/2 inches longer. Do you know what? They are right. After he sprayed the deck, he left the basement to get something he wanted to show me (and, more on that in a minute). While he was out of the room, I looked the model over. I can actually see where the model is 2 1/2 inches too short. The engine-room hatch/covering (with that air-scoop) is closer to the cockpit area than it is in photos I've seen of the real boats. It should be more aft than it is. As I've said previously, if the model wasn't partially built when I got it off of EBay 15 years ago, I'd have had Stan insert a plug to lengthen the hull. I'd strongly suggest, that, if any of you who might have this kit (or the re-released kit) you lengthen the hull. I realize that, from me, it might sound weird, knowing that I'm a self-professed non-rivet-counter who feels that if something looks "right" to you - leave it - but when I saw how close that hatch is/was to the cockpit as opposed to what I've seen in photos ... it really "bothered/bothers" me. Now, onto what Stan wanted to show me .... Currently, he is building a diorama of the PT Boat Training Center which was located at Melville, R.I. for a client --- so far it's incredible to see, the floating Drydock he has scratchbuilt is totally amazing! As part of the diorama - he is doing figures ... he bought a few sets of 1:72 figures of USN sailors from a vendor on Shapeways - done on a 3D printer and he painted some of them ... People, I have to say, when I saw the painted 3D figures - I was just blown away! So much so that, as soon as I got home, I contacted that vendor and asked if I could order just a few of the figures (since I can't afford $50 for a set of 30) and asked if he could make a couple of officer figures and he said he could! So, I would suggest (and strongly so) if you want to put figures on your 1:144, 1:72, 1:48 and 1:35 and 1:20 and 1:24 scale kits? Get 'em on Shapeways, you WILL NOT be disappointed!

Hi Guys, Well, after I have had Stan build me a 1:144 F-14 Tomcat from VF-111, The Sundowners, ... we have moved onto "our" next project. I use "our" to mean that - once a week - I go over to his house and watch him build my models for a few hours. It gets me out of the house ... "Our" next project is an oldie (but certainly not a goodie) ... it's Lindberg's "1:72" USAF Rescue boat. This particular one actually comes from the 1950s. My brother won it for me on EBay back in 2001 or 2002 from a guy in Portugal. The model was already started and the sprues in the box are missing quite a few pieces - which is fine - Stan is an excellent scratchbuilder ... So, once the F-14 was done, "we" got going on the boat. Now, as all of you know - the USAF ASRC of the 1950s were painted in what I refer to as "the Clown Colors" - White, Yellow and Day-Glo Orange. Also, the boats (the USAF had two boats of this type built, the 21-R-1251 and the 21-R-1252) were armed with two Maxim quad-50-caliber machine gun mounts. But, what most people don't know was that, in the early 1960s - these two boats were handed over to the Navy. From 2001 to now, I've corresponded with a researcher named B.G. "Chip" Marshall. That man is one of the best and most thorough researchers I've ever known. And, he's as nice and respectful (to me) as John Lambert was to me. He certainly knows a lot about these two boats ... He told me that the Navy used the two boats in BEACH JUMPER UNIT 2 (BJU2) as "Beach Jumper boats". In this role, they were repainted Gray (which made me happy in that I HATE "the Clown Colors") and had the two quad-50 mounts replaced by two twin 20mm guns. Chip says this was done because the Maxim mounts weren't in the Navy's inventory but the twin 20mms were. Chip also theorized/theorizes that Lindberg decided to have the twin 20mm guns included in the kit and not the quad-50s was because they had seen photos (that he cannot find, ... yet) of the boats with these guns ... And, he also theorizes the kit is NOT 1:72 - as it has been considered and thought to be - he believes Lindberg had worked from photos and not plans - and that caused it to be "off-scale" ... The other day, he mentioned to me that - if it was a "true 1:72" - the model would have been 2 1/2 inches longer than the Revell PT-109 kit. If the hull and deck weren't already glued together when the kit arrived from Portugal ... I would have Stan put a "plug" to add the required 2 1/2 inches. That said, I bought two twin 20mm guns and a SP-10 radar unit from SHAPEWAYS to be put on the model. Stan will need to make the props and prop shafts and the rudders though. The kit just provides one prop/shaft and rudder - owing to the kit includes a battery-operated electric motor. But, ... still - it should be a "fun" build ... and guys? YES, I KNOW IT'S INACCURATE and it's a bad kit - but inasmuch the finished model will never be entered in a show and since it'll be only "displayed" in my room - that's OK by me. Tim

Hi Guys, Well, after I have had Stan build me a 1:144 F-14 Tomcat from VF-111, The Sundowners, ... we have moved onto "our" next project. I use "our" to mean that - once a week - I go over to his house and watch him build my models for a few hours. It gets me out of the house ... "Our" next project is an oldie (but certainly not a goodie) ... it's Lindberg's "1:72" USAF Rescue boat. This particular one actually comes from the 1950s. My brother won it for me on EBay back in 2001 or 2002 from a guy in Portugal. The model was already started and the sprues in the box are missing quite a few pieces - which is fine - Stan is an excellent scratchbuilder ... So, once the F-14 was done, "we" got going on the boat. Now, as all of you know - the USAF ASRC of the 1950s were painted in what I refer to as "the Clown Colors" - White, Yellow and Day-Glo Orange. Also, the boats (the USAF had two boats of this type built, the 21-R-1251 and the 21-R-1252) were armed with two Maxim quad-50-caliber machine gun mounts. But, what most people don't know was that, in the early 1960s - these two boats were handed over to the Navy. From 2001 to now, I've corresponded with a researcher named B.G. "Chip" Marshall. That man is one of the best and most thorough researchers I've ever known. And, he's as nice and respectful (to me) as John Lambert was to me. He certainly knows a lot about these two boats ... He told me that the Navy used the two boats in BEACH JUMPER UNIT 2 (BJU2) as "Beach Jumper boats". In this role, they were repainted Gray (which made me happy in that I HATE "the Clown Colors") and had the two quad-50 mounts replaced by two twin 20mm guns. Chip says this was done because the Maxim mounts weren't in the Navy's inventory but the twin 20mms were. Chip also theorized/theorizes that Lindberg decided to have the twin 20mm guns included in the kit and not the quad-50s was because they had seen photos (that he cannot find, ... yet) of the boats with these guns ... And, he also theorizes the kit is NOT 1:72 - as it has been considered and thought to be - he believes Lindberg had worked from photos and not plans - and that caused it to be "off-scale" ... The other day, he mentioned to me that - if it was a "true 1:72" - the model would have been 2 1/2 inches longer than the Revell PT-109 kit. If the hull and deck weren't already glued together when the kit arrived from Portugal ... I would have Stan put a "plug" to add the required 2 1/2 inches. That said, I bought two twin 20mm guns and a SP-10 radar unit from SHAPEWAYS to be put on the model. Stan will need to make the props and prop shafts and the rudders though. The kit just provides one prop/shaft and rudder - owing to the kit includes a battery-operated electric motor. But, ... still - it should be a "fun" build ... and guys? YES, I KNOW IT'S INACCURATE and it's a bad kit - but inasmuch the finished model will never be entered in a show and since it'll be only "displayed" in my room - that's OK by me. Tim

Well, it's academic now. Two of my 4 Siamese cats (one aptly named Temujin ... i.e.: Genghas Kahn) DESTROYED the F-14 ........................ DESTROYED it ............. 0

Thanks Gil! I'm going to try and down a MINICRAFT 1:144 PBY-5A and have Stan do it as a Black Cat. I've ALWAYS wanted one.

Just before Christmas, I decided to do an experiment. Have a 1:144 kit built for me, to see if I'd like it and to see if it'd save shelf-space. Whereas, 1:144 would definitely save space, I was extremely disappointed in the 1:144 Academy F-14 Tomcat. Sure, my guy's a "master-modeler" with talent up the wahzoo, the kit is toylike with no detail ... there wasn't even a basic cockpit, just two GAPING holes there, the landing gear wheels were/are HUGE ... Even with a talented builder, a reasonable looking paint job, STARFIGHTER DECALS and aftermarket missiles - it was a disappointment (although I did not say that to my builder). I won't be getting anymore 1:144 fighters ... I MIGHT try and track down the out-of-production MINICRAFT 1:144 PBY-5A and see how that turns out ... Tim

Robin, Again, thank you ... but, the model will never been seen at a show or be entered in a contest, it's only for my own "enjoyment" ... and plus, the price was right ... so, it was the "right" choice ....

Hi Tim, Are you sure Eduard has that? Was just there, couldn't find anything for a F-5.

Hi Tim, Thanks, I contacted Mark at STARFIGHTERDECALS and he said that sheet is OOP ... But, I did find the AMI 1:72 sheet with 155 and 337. That AUTHENTIC DECALS sheet for the F-5 is also OOP. Thanks for the lead on Eduard ... and would you happen to have the part number from TRUE DETAILS for that seat? I've gone to Squadron.com and typed in 1:72 F-5E and nothing comes up.

Hi Robin, Thanks. Just how bad are they? But, I've got to say, none of the models I'm having built for me now won't be seen in shows, they're just for my "enjoyment" so to speak. Besides, my modeler is pretty-dang-tootin' good...........

Well, I THINK I've found the drawings I need for this project, on somebody's PHOTOBUCKET Library page ... but I don't think they'll print out big enough for Stan to use to build the cockpit, the turrets, and the charthouse ... I even looked on JOHN LAMBERT'S PLANS' site and he doesn't have what I need, and he's been sick and I don't want to bother him with this.

Does anyone know where I could acquire the general arrangement drawings/plans of the MIAMI SHIPBUILDING 63-foot PTC variant of their ASRC hulls. The PTCs were built for the Soviets and other navies. Thank you, Tim

Thanks, Bob.

Hi All, OK. I've found the P-40 decals I wanted (on Ebay, buy-it-now). But, I can't find the ones, in 1:72 for VFC-111 ... Do any of you have them that you know you won't use? Tim

Hi Guys, I just "BUY IT NOW" the Academy 1:72 P-40B and the Starfix 1:72 F-5E kits off Ebay and they came yesterday. I have a "dumb question" ... are there detail sets like: For the P-40B: Cockpit Canopy Wheels Decal sheets I'd like to have it depict Taylor's 155 from December 7, 1941 For the F-5E: Cockpit Ejection seat Weapon sets Decal sheets I'd like the VFC-111 Sundowners - but I'd take any USN "Aggressor" squadron Can anyone please help? Tim

Patrol Craft, Fast. A SWIFT boat.

Hey Guys? Can someone here help me out here? I've got that Revell/Monogram 1:48 PCF (which my uncle built). What I'd like to do someday is; replace its 50s with better ones and get a better 50-cal/81mm "over/under" mount ... I know that SHAPEWAYS has a 1:48 twin .50-cal for a good price, but there is no "over/under" mount ... I was thinking if I could get some drawings or plans of that mount, I could have someone on SHAPEWAYS to print one for me. Does anyone here have those drawings/plans or know where I can get them? Thanks, Tim

Here are more pictures of it.

Bob, Hi, ... sorry for the delay in answering, sir. But, I was a little busy with my online class. The kit is 1:535.